Joe Burrow wearing a sling on his armJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 04: Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals looks on prior to the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on December 04, 2023 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images)
A popular sports doctor has painted a very grim outlook on Joe Burrow’s injury.

The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback expects to be cleared by mid-May after missing the end of last season due to a torn ligament in his throwing hand.

“I think middle of May is when I am expecting to kind of be cleared for full contact and everything,” he told ESPN on Sunday. “Over the next month [to] month and a half, we’ll kind of decide all those things.”

Although things seem to be going well for Burrow as he steps his recovery up, Dr. Jesse Morse has warned that the QB’s career could be changed forever as no other NFL signal-caller has ever suffered this particular injury.
“Initially it was speculated that it was a TFCC complex tear, but unfortunately it was worse, the dreaded scapholunate ligament complex tear,” Morse shared to X.

“This ligament is very important for the stability of the wrist, and since this/most ligaments have a poor blood supply it needed to be repaired.

“I asked an orthopedic hand surgeon colleague his thoughts on this injury as it pertains to Burrow and here was his response:

“It’s a bad injury to have, invariably always lead to some instability over time and arthritis at an earlier age.

“For context, he’s the only pro qb I’ve heard of with this, so it’s hard to gauge.”

While this seems to suggest that Burrow will never be the same, fans aren’t buying it.

Burrow is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL when he’s healthy, so Bengals fans will be hoping the assessment above is off. We’ll see once the season gets underway, though.